The Cayman Islands recently passed a public access to information law, which will come into full effect in January. The law was based on a wide ranging public consultation (including experts from the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative or CHRI). With a rapid deployment schedule, the Cayman government has been active in training the civil service and in developing their ‘Government Implementation Plan’ has been developed.
As part of this preparation, Carole Excell, coordinator of the Cayman Islands PATI unit, has invited CHRI to the island. CHRI has been a strong supporter of freedom of information laws (see their 2003 publication Open Sesame: Looking for the Right to Information in the Commonwealth).
According to Cayman Net News:
Sohini Paul, Project Officer in the CHRI’s Access to Information Programme, is expected to share examples of good practice from India and other Commonwealth countries with Ministers, Chief Officers and information managers in meetings taking place on 9 and 10 July at the Marriott Beach Resort …
Notice that the Cayman process has been clear, bipartisan, and public - unlike the murky mystery game the PLP has been playing with freedom of information in Bermuda.
